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BIDDEFORD, Maine – The University of New England men's ice hockey team battled back from an early two-goal deficit to defeat Commonwealth Coast Conference foe Nichols College, 6-2, in the 7th Annual Teddy Bear Toss at the Harold Alfond Forum on Saturday night.
The Teddy Bear Toss is an annual tradition put on by the Harold Alfond Forum Building Managers in support of the United Way of Southern Maine. The game was played in front of a record crowd of 1,370 fans.
Nichols (6-11-0, 2-11-0 CCC) scored twice in the first period to quiet the home supporters. Kaiden Scott put the visitors on the board 4:25 into the evening with help from Damon Dulac and Owen Gonter. Scott and Gonter later assisted on a goal by Nathan Carl with 2:01 to play in the first as the Bison took a 2-0 lead into intermission.
Past the midway mark of the contest, the Nor'easter offense came alive with four goals in a span of just 3:50 down the stretch in the second period. Following a defensive-zone turnover,
Noah Szretter fed
Ryan Kuzmich for the Teddy Bear Toss goal with 6:46 to play in the period to trim the deficit to one [
Watch]. And it didn't take long for the UNE (11-5-1, 9-4-0) to equalize, as
Jake Fuss found
Jared Christy in front for a blast just 10 seconds later. [
Watch]
Chad Merrill left the puck for
Logan DiScanio who scored from a tough angle near the red line to put the Nor'easters in front for good with 3:12 to play in the second period [
Watch].
Jayden Price redirected a shot in off the stick of
Mike Tersoni to extend the UNE lead to 4-2 with 2:46 left in the period.
Kevin O'Keefe also recorded an assist. [
Watch]
Fuss [
Watch] and DiScanio [
Watch] scored more goals for the Nor'easters just 22 seconds apart in the third period to put the game out of reach. Those two, along with Christy, each recorded multi-point efforts in the victory.
After a 9-8 shot advantage by UNE in the first period, the Nor'easters out-shot the Bison 38-12 the rest of the way.
Billy Girard IV made 18 stops to earn the victory in net. Tyler Bost had 41 saves.
UNE returns home next Friday night at 7 p.m. in a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) matchup with Wentworth.
